Poll

Education

Evergreen’s glorious weather on Saturday allowed the annual Bandana Day fall carnival at Wilmot Elementary to have some activities outside.

The carnival has games for all ages, plus haunted houses for children older than 6 and for the tiny ones. Some children wore Halloween costumes, while others wore bandanas in honor of the festival’s name.

The gym at Fitzsimmons Middle School in Bailey was alive Monday to honor physical education teacher Elizabeth Miner. The Colorado Department of Education named Miner the 2014 Colorado Teacher of the Year.

“I first want to thank you, the students,” Miner said as she smiled and clutched her award. “You make me a great teacher.

Jefferson County PTA president Michele Patterson has been appointed to the vacant seat on the Jeffco school board.

Board president Lesley Dahlkemper made the appointment after the school board deadlocked in trying to name a replacement for Robin Johnson, who resigned from the District 1 seat in August after moving out of the county.

Patterson's stay on the board will be short — the District 1 seat is up for election next month, along with two other seats on the five-member board.

Kindergartners celebrated the things that make them unique during King-Murphy Elementary School’s annual Unique Tea on Sept. 25.

The students in Paulyne Fischer’s and Beth Schwecke’s classes wore uniquely decorated hats made out of paper bags to the event and stood one by one in front of the group while an adult friend — usually a parent or grandparent — told three things that made each child special.

Rocky Mountain Academy of Evergreen has asked its parents to donate more money to the school to help meets its budget shortfall, which comes as a result of the way charter schools are funded by the state and Jeffco Public Schools.

At a meeting Sept. 17, the K-8 school’s board of directors asked parents to donate $600 per child, which equates to $75 per month for the eight months kids are in school, to the school’s foundation.

Parents of students in Jeffco Public Schools will now be able to opt out of the controversial inBloom system for storing student data.

That announcement came at a school board meeting Sept. 19, after months of controversy related to parental concerns about the security of the cloud-based data storage system, and about the student information that will be collected.

It was raining last Wednesday, and rain was flowing in the form of tears from the adults who gathered with students for Bergen Meadow Elementary School’s annual Hero Day to commemorate Sept. 11, 2001.

While the students listened with interest to the presentation about local heroes — the men and women who work in law enforcement and as firefighters and paramedics — the adults were fighting back tears during the commemoration of 9/11.

“This is a tear jerker,” Evergreen Fire/Rescue paramedic Bob Walter said after the ceremony.